STORRS – UConn fans looking for a little hope or encouragement in the wake of the Huskies’ 73-72 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday and the team’s subsequent drop from the No. 1 spot in the women’s basketball polls on Monday need look no further than the pride with which Kelly Faris plays basketball.

After scoring 13 points along with game-high totals of 11 rebounds, seven assists and five steals with only one turnover, the Huskies’ senior captain stood in front of the media and took the blame for the loss.

“I don’t just say that because it sounds like I should,” Faris said. “As a team leader, I’m supposed to set the tone. And defensively, I didn’t do that. That’s usually what’s expected of me, and (Kayla) McBride got any shot she wanted and she hit almost every single one. I didn’t set the tone, and it kind of went from there. We made too many turnovers. We didn’t get rebounds. They out-toughed us.”

Faris allowed McBride to score a game-high and career-high 21 points. That’s uncharacteristic for Faris, who normally shuts down the opponents best offensive player.

McBride did score only two points on 1-for-4 shooting over the final nine minutes of the game, a span over which Faris got four rebounds including an offensive one with 25 seconds left that gave the Huskies a chance to win. A chance that dissipated with Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis’ missed wide open 3-pointer.

“That’s how Kelly is,’’ UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “She takes every little thing personally. She feels responsible for everything that happens on our team. There’s only so much that one person can do. Stefanie (Dolson) played great. Kaleena Lewis played well … I thought Bria struggled a lot and (Brianna Stewart) struggled a lot. The other guys may or may not be ready for a game like this. I don’t know. But I think Kelly looks at all that, ‘If I’d have done more we would’ve won.’”

Faris still exuded frustration Monday. She wasn’t happy Auriemma cancelled practice to give the team what essentially was a second mental health day in a row coming off a tough stretch of travel that continues this week with road games today at Georgetown and Saturday at Marquette.

After the team broke down the film of the Notre Dame, Faris dragged one of the team’s male practice players – athletic, strong 6-foot-3 combo guard Kevin Demile – onto the Gampel court to take jump shots against her from spots McBride had scored against her. Faris only had 25 minutes before getting kicked off the court by the DePaul men’s basketball team, but she needed to find better ways to defend and regain her intensity.

“I am still mad about it,” Faris said. “I still sit there and think, ‘I could have done this. I could have done that. Why didn’t we do this?’ I still think that about all the other games we have lost since I have been here, especially last year I the Final Four and the year before that in the Final Four. Those things don’t go away. We have said it 1,000 times after every game we have lost, ‘Yeah I could sit here and pout about it and I could sit here and be ticked off about it and go in my little corner and think of all the things we didn’t do right.’ You have to learn from it.”

Faris gets an opportunity to prove herself tonight against in the Big East’s leading scorer, Georgetown’s Sugar Rodgers (26.1 points per game), who posted an impressive triple-double Saturday against Providence with 33 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists.

“They look for me to set the tone defensively, because that is what starts our offense,” Faris said. “I guess in a weird way that is what I get excited for. I get excited to go out and think, ‘They are going to expect me to stop their best player.’ It is a huge challenge, especially with somebody like Sugar Rodgers.”

Rodgers also leads the Big East in steals (54) and in 3-pointers (44), and leads her team and is in the Top 10 in the league in assists (49), free throw shooting (.794) and minutes played per game (37.1)

Auriemma said Faris is the perfect matchup for her, because she is much more athletic than anyone gives her credit.

“She is at another level from conditioning to mental toughness to athletic ability,” Auriemma said. “People don’t recognize what a great athlete she is and how many things she can do and how quick she is and how fast she is and how strong she is. We don’t have anybody else like her.”

Faris is averaging only 10.0 points per game, but she leads the nation in assist/turnover ratio (4.91) and also leads the Huskies in assists (54), steals (37) and minutes played (28.5).

“She does everything,” UConn assistant coach Shea Ralph said. “But it is more her mentality and her refusal to give up or lose that is more important than anything. That is the mentality of Connecticut basketball. That represents who we are as UConn that is the most impressive thing she brings to our team.”

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Jim Walkley wrote on Jan 9, 2013 2:19 PM:

" If every player had Kelly's attitude and commitment to be the best you can be, UConn would be a realistic contender for the NCAA championship in March but I don't believe herteammates are willing to make the sacrifice "

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